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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Ethics in Illinois

While the term "Ethics in Illinois" seems a bit of an oxymoron, I am still be-Elmer-fuddled by what Illinois' governor is reported to have done. For more info about specifics go to www.drudgereport.com. Apparently Governor Rod wanted to essentially offer Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Even for Chicago politics, this one's a dandy. He joins New York's governor as having to resign over the past year for something so ridiculous. I'd pursue the "what were these guys thinking?" track if it were worth pursuing. But there's really no way to figure this stuff out and answer that question when these types of reports come out. All I can do is paraphrase the SNL skits and ask "REALLY?"

It does make me think that Conservatives have an opportunity to reclaim the mantle of good, ethical government. Democrat money machines are quite an ugly thing when you look up close at them. And we have some ugly Dems in the House. Conservatives should be for open, transparent government. Unfortunately, folks like Ted Stevens, Duke Cunningham, and Larry Craig have mucked ethics up in recent years.

However, in the future Conservatives need to have the strength to take the high road on ethics and accept consequences if need be. If it means voting out members who have even a whiff of scandal and losing a seat, so be it. In the long run, big city Dem politicos seem to get away with this sort of stuff. Conservatives need to stay away from it because they don't have a lock-step, "we've stopped thinking because we are all progressives" urban base. This can help restore the trust we've lost with our spending sprees and our own corruption during 12 years of GOP congressional rule. Behaving ethical, rather than just spending the next two years throwing darts, would be one small way for us to get out of the wilderness.